PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Reliever Dan Murray, throwing batting
practice for the Rangers, fired a pitch, and Alex Rodriguez
hit a weak chopper through the right side of the infield.

He turned to catcher Bill Haselman and said with a weak
smile, "That's pretty good if there's a runner on second."

As Rodriguez turned back and got ready for the next pitch,
manager Jerry Narron strolled around the batting cage and put
his hand on the muscular shoulder of the hitter waiting to go
next.

"It's good to see you," Narron said quietly with a smile,
basking in the soft Florida sunlight and reflecting the
attitude of many in the Rangers' camp.

"You, too," Juan Gonzalez beamed, holding two thick bats in
his hand and, for the first time in 28 months, wearing a
uniform that said "Rangers" on the front.

"It is exciting to see him," Rodriguez said on Gonzalez's
first day in camp. "I'd much rather face him than be playing
shortstop against him. Shortstop was getting pretty dangerous.
It's thrilling to finally see him here."

Rodriguez finished his turn, and Gonzalez stepped to the
plate, the same order Narron expects them to bat every game in
the regular season. Gonzalez took a few pitches. Then Murray
threw a fastball on the outside corner of the plate. Gonzalez
stepped into it, flexed his muscles, brought the bat around in
a savage blur and ...

He hit a soft line drive over second base.

"I'm ready," he said, laughing.

Narron was ready, too, remembering how the Rangers were
before Gonzalez was traded to the Detroit Tigers after the
1999 season.

"It's unbelievable that he's back," Narron said. "At the
time, I understood the trade completely. There were a lot of
financial reasons and everything.

"But he was missed."

Gonzalez and Rodriguez were almost inseparable during
Monday's workout. They stretched together, hit together and
tossed the medicine ball back and forth at the end of the day.

A couple of hundred people gathered around the back fields
of the Rangers' spring-training complex to watch Gonzalez and
Rodriguez hit.

"It feels good to come back here again and see old
friends," Gonzalez said.

"I know this game. It's a business game. The last two years
I played in Detroit and Cleveland, then the Rangers gave me
the opportunity to come back here. ...

"It feels the same. There are some new guys, but my old
friends Pudge and Raffy are here, my teammates before. It
basically feels the same."

Rafael Palmeiro, who had 47 home runs and 123 runs batted
in last year, and Ivan Rodriguez, a 10-time All-Star, weren't
in the same batting group as Alex Rodriguez and Gonzalez, but
they were close by on most other occasions. Those four were
the last in line during base-running drills, laughing and
joking together while waiting their turn.

Palmeiro, who has lobbied hard the past two years to get
Gonzalez back, said: "When he's happy, he makes everybody
around here laugh. He keeps everybody loose.

"I'm just glad he's on my team again. He's the kind of
player you keep on a team. He's a force. When he left, we lost
big-time. He'll make a big difference."

Gonzalez did before when he was with the Rangers. They won
three division titles in four years before he was traded to
Detroit on Nov. 2, 1999 for Haselman, pitchers Justin
Thompson, Francisco Cordero and Alan Webb, and outfielders
Gabe Kapler and Frank Catalanotto.

The Rangers have finished in last place two years in a row
since.

"We got some good players in return," Palmeiro said.

"But no matter what you get in return, when you have a
player like that who's won MVP Awards, and is a big threat,
I'd do everything I can to keep him around. He's got
everything it takes to be a superstar in this game. That's
what he is."

Gonzalez, who was the MVP in 1996 and 1998, was the main
guy with the Rangers. When the Rangers won, he was a huge
reason why. When they lost, it was often because he was in a
slump or on the disabled list.

There were many other superb players - including Palmeiro,
Rodriguez, Rusty Greer, Will Clark and Dean Palmer - but
Gonzalez always seemed to be the focal point on those teams.

Now that focus has shifted to Alex Rodriguez. Owner Tom
Hicks said as much when he said last week that the Rangers are
building a team around their All-Star shortstop.

With Gonzalez, general manager John Hart said: "All you do
is ask him to show up and hit and drive in runs. If he does
that, he's great."

That might help Gonzalez, a splendid individualist who has
never sought a leadership role and rarely thrusts himself
willingly or eagerly into the center of public attention.

"Possibly," Narron said. "We've got a lot of guys who
should be able to take the pressure off each other. Nobody
should have to feel they have to carry the load or feel the
team will win based on their performance."

Said Gonzalez: "When you have a strong lineup - Pudge,
Alex, Raffy, Carl Everett - there are more chances for
everybody to get better pitches, more chances to drive in runs
and hit home runs. The pitchers need to throw strikes.

"It's going to be exciting. This is one of the best
feelings I've had, coming back to Texas. I had a great year in
Cleveland. This year is going to be even better."

That feeling pervaded the Rangers' camp on a sunny February
afternoon when the prodigal son finally returned.